Systematic Chaos

This is one of my favorite albums by Dream Theater. It contains a perfect mix of heavy, hard rock riffs with slow, easy listening melodies. The sound on this album is massive. The production and song writing is so tight on this album that it almost has an orchestrated sound to it, much like their previous release “Octavarium” They keep all the elements that Dream Theater has been known for with the 25 minute epic “In The Presence of Enemies” and also the next installment of Mike Portnoy’s battle with alcoholism with “Repentance” following “The Glass Prison” – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, “This Dying Soul” – Train of Thought, and “The Root of All Evil” – Octavarium. However this installment to the series of songs is much slower and sets a great mood for topic. The second half of the song also contains guest vocals from Steven Wilson, Mikael Akerfeldt, Jon Anderson, David Ellefson, Daniel Gildenlow, Steve Hogarth, Chris Jericho, Neal Morse, Corey Taylor, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai.While the song “Forsaken” may have a Nu-Metal sounding riff to it “the Dark Eternal Night” really brings out Petrucci’s writing style. “The Ministry of Lost Souls” is a song that starts off slow but when it picks up you really get that Dream Theater feeling from it. “In the Presence of Enemies” is a classic song of Good Vs. Evil. This song is broken into 2 parts but as a whole it contains all that is needed to make this a true Dream Theater song with awesome riffs, moody slow sections, off times, harmonized solos, powerful vocals, fast licks, just an all around incredibly written song. The whole album is amazing and I suggest anyone who loves a band with incredible musicianship, to pick this album up. 9.5/10